BofA's weekly flow report notes USD 53.7bln into cash, USD 32.9bln into stocks, USD 23.1bln into bonds, USD 0.9bln into gold and USD 0.6bln into crypto

• BofA's Bull & Bear Indicator rose to 9.7 (from 9.4), highest level since 2021, an "extreme bull" reading, and firmly in "sell" territory.
• The move was driven by strong HY inflows, tighter global HY and AT1 risky bond spreads, and stronger global stock index breadth.
• BofA recommends investors retreat from risk assets and/or rotate into defensives such as staples, REITs, small cap, biotech and the USD.

• Cash saw USD 53.7bln of inflows.
• Gold and precious metals funds saw USD 0.9bln of inflows, a fifth straight week of inflows.
• Crypto saw USD 0.6bln of inflows.

• BofA notes that stocks saw USD 32.9bln of inflows this week, comprising USD 40.1bln into ETFs and USD 7.2bln of outflows from mutual funds.
• DM: US equities saw USD 9.6bln of inflows, a second consecutive week of inflows. Japan saw USD 2.6bln of inflows, a ninth consecutive week of inflows. European equities saw USD 55mln of inflows, first inflows in three weeks.
• EM: EM equities saw USD 8.6bln of inflows, a fifth straight week of inflows.
• By sector: Inflows were seen into materials (USD 0.7bln), consumer (USD 0.6bln), healthcare (USD 0.4bln), utilities (USD 0.1bln) and real estate (USD 24mln); outflows from communication services (USD 0.9bln), tech (USD 0.7bln), energy (USD 0.1bln) and financials (USD 0.1bln).
• By style: US large cap saw USD 11.1bln of inflows; outflows from US value (USD 2.8bln), US small cap (USD 0.2bln) and US growth (USD 0.6bln).

• BofA says bonds have seen inflows for 67 straight weeks, with USD 23.1bln of inflows in the latest week.
• Govt/Tsy bonds saw USD 4.1bln of inflows, a sixth consecutive week of inflows.
• TIPS saw USD 0.8bln of inflows, a 27th consecutive week of inflows.
• IG bonds saw USD 10.2bln of inflows, an 18th consecutive week of inflows, annualising a record USD 527bln inflow for the year.
• HY bonds saw USD 4.1bln of inflows, a third consecutive week of inflows, the largest since July 2024.
• Munis saw USD 1.5bln of inflows, a 16th consecutive week of inflows.
• Bank loans saw USD 1.4bln of inflows, an eighth consecutive week of inflows.
• EM debt saw USD 0.1bln of inflows, resuming inflows.

The weekly flow report is a fixture of this strategist's output and its value to the tape has always sat with the Bull & Bear Indicator rather than the raw flow tallies. At extremes the indicator has historically been treated as a contrarian signal, with readings deep into bull territory tending to precede consolidation or rotation rather than immediate reversals, and the sell trigger here rests on the usual triad: credit spreads at the tight end, broad index breadth, and heavy risk inflows. The structural picture beneath is familiar for this kind of positioning: a persistent bid for IG and front-end paper alongside record cash balances, which in past episodes has coexisted with equity strength for long stretches before mattering. The style and sector splits, large cap over value and small cap, staples and REITs flagged as the defensive rotation, describe the standard late-phase crowding pattern rather than new information. The consecutive-week streaks in Japan and EM equity are the kind of consistency data that has tended to matter only when they break. The tell going forward is whether follow-up weeks show HY inflows stalling at these spread levels, since credit appetite rolling over has typically been the first leg of this indicator resolving. As a weekly positioning snapshot it colours sentiment more than it re-prices anything.